In the prior art, sour gas streams, that is, hydrogen sulfide streams have been processed by the well known Claus process which initially burn approximately 1/3 of the hydrogen sulfide, then is further processed to obtain free sulfur.
This invention relates to reactions for the conversion of hydrogen sulfide to free sulfur where larger amounts of an organic sulfur compound which may be contaminated with ammonia, and/or hydrocarbons, either liquid or gaseous, are present. Conventional Claus reaction processes are limited to gaseous hydrogen sulfide and air with only trace amounts of gaseous hydrocarbons.
There are many refineries or process areas having fixed streams of H.sub.2 S and for example NH.sub.3 mixed with H.sub.2 S. The NH.sub.3, if introduced into the usual Claus reaction and sulfur recovery process, would not be burned to completion. That is, if the dual streams were injected into the standard Claus reaction where burning occurs in presence of 1/3 air, the air will burn selectively the H.sub.2 S and leave some unburned NH.sub.3. NH.sub.3 could react and plug the catalytic converter beds used to form free molten sulfur. To separate the NH.sub.3 and flare it separately poses environmental and energy wasting problems.